Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has informed that seat-sharing talks with opposition INDIA bloc allies in Maharashtra, including Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, and Prakash Ambedkar (Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi chief) are almost done. Raut said the talks have been ‘positive’. This comes a day after Congress held an AICC meeting to discuss seat-sharing formula with state Congress leaders.
Sanjay Raut’s earlier remark that Congress should begin seat-sharing talk from ‘zero’ with Shiv Sena (UBT) because the party has “not won any seat” in the state, had triggered a war of words.
“I had a discussion with the senior leaders of the party who are a part of the high-level committee. In a few days, we’ll sit with the committee formed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and our primary discussions will come to an end,” Sanjay Raut said.
“Our talks on seat sharing with Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, and Prakash Ambedkar (Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi chief) are almost done. It has been a very positive discussion. We can’t see any clashes in the four parties…We are in talks with Congress and Prakash Ambedkar,” he added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leaders decided at a meeting that the Uddhav camp should contest 23 seats while the NCP would press for ten to eleven seats. Congress leaders, however, decided that they should get 22 seats in the seat-sharing formula.
In the last general elections, the undivided Shiv Sena had won 18 out of 23 seats in alliance with the BJP while the NCP won four out of 19 seats contested in alliance with the Congress. However, both the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) are currently at their weakest, following a split in both parties.
Congress top leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi on Thursday conducted meetings with the members of the party’s Alliance Committee and Manifesto Committee here in the national capital.
The grand old party went into a huddle two times, first holding a meeting of Congress Alliance Committee at the party chief Kharge’s residence and later a meeting of Congress Manifesto Committee at the AICC headquarters which is headed by party Rajya Sabha MP P Chidambaram.
Briefing about the Alliance Committee meeting, committee convener Mukul Wasnik said that in the meeting, a discussion regarding seat-sharing of Congress within the INDIA bloc was held.
Meanwhile, Chidambaram, while informing about the Manifesto Committee meeting, said, “This was the first meeting of the Manifesto Committee. There will be a meeting again next week regarding the manifesto of Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls . Preliminary views were exchanged in today’s meeting.”
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Published: 05 Jan 2024, 07:45 PM IST